Review: 'Game of Thrones' - 'The Watchers on the Wall': Have fun storming the castle!

A review of tonight's "Game of Thrones" coming up just as soon as I promise you I won't die...

"I was nothing at all. And when you're nothing at all, there's no more reason to be afraid." -Sam

The intentions of "The Watchers on the Wall" couldn't have been more clear. We have the ninth episode of a season, set entirely in one location(*) and featuring only one subset of characters, devoted to a single battle — with a bit of reflection and boastful storytelling beforehand — and directed by Neil Marshall, who helmed the comparable episode near the end of season 2. The only way it could have been more blatantly "Blackwater 2: Black Harder" would have required Podrick to improbably make it all the way north so he could be the one to kill Ygritte and save Jon Snow's life.

(*) A part of me wishes there were a way to do a single location version of the map from the opening credits, but that would require exploring the Castle Black model in an almost absurd level of detail.

"Blackwater" is probably still the series' high point, so you can't blame Benioff and Weiss for trying to replicate it here, but the parallels can't be exact. King's Landing features many of the series richest, most compelling characters, all of whom got multiple moments in the spotlight due to that episode's structure. Castle Black, on the other hand, essentially has two figures of any import in Jon Snow and Sam (after all these seasons, I still can never remember the name of their friends, several of whom died heroically during this battle), and Jon Snow is perhaps the TV show's least interesting main character: a noble, straightforward, but ultimately dull hero. I don't know how much of this is on the writing (certainly, Benioff and Weiss seem more engaged by writing for the misfits and unlikely heroes) and how much is on Kit Harington (who at a minimum doesn't bring anything extra to the material in the way that so many of his co-stars do), but in general, scenes at or around the Wall the last few years have tended to rise and fall based less on Jon Snow than on how much John Bradley has gotten to do as Sam.

And beyond that, the Battle of Blackwater Bay not only brought a lot of season 2's character arcs to a climax, but brought a definitive end to an entire front of a war. Thanks to Tyrion's strategizing holding off Stannis' forces long enough for the combined Lannister/Tyrell army to carry the day, Stannis was completely neutralized as an impending threat to the crown, whereas "The Watchers on the Wall" ends with Jon pointing out what an utterly minor victory they've just won against Mance's mighty, enormous army. The King's Landing battle got a whole episode because it was a major pivot point for the plot and many major characters; this one got a whole episode because the audience (me included) really liked "Blackwater."

That said, Benioff, Weiss, Marshall and the entire production team seem to have recognized that they were working with less important raw material, and that they needed to compensate with something else: spectacle. We've seen the show's technical capabilities expand rapidly with each passing season, and if this battle didn't have Tyrion or Tywin or the Hound hanging around, it had giants and wooly mammoths and action centered around a 700-foot high ice wall: a physical scope to match the sort of magic that Marshall and the visual effects people can whip up at this point in the series' lifespan.

So even though Jon Snow is a drip, Ser Alliser has previously been a jealous boob designed to make Jon Snow look better, etc., "The Watchers on the Wall" still offered plenty of thrills. I may not remember that Jon's bearded friend's name is Grenn (thanks, Internet!), but I could still appreciate the power of him leading the other rangers in the Night's Watch oath as they stared down the attacking giant in the tunnel between the outer gate and the inner one. His other friend Edd has similarly not made a huge impression, but the image of the huge scythe sweeping the climbers off the Wall was pretty splendid to look at. And if Harington doesn't have the charisma of some of his co-stars, he (and/or his stunt double) swashbuckles convincingly, and the various duels in and around Castle Black were as exciting as designed. (Even Alliser turned out to be a good fighter and leader of men, even if Tormund nearly killed him.)

But these were emptier thrills than "Game of Thrones" at its best is capable of. When I'm inclined to revisit "Blackwater," it's as much for Bronn and the Hound's chestiness before the fight as it is for the image of part of Stannis' fleet being consumed by green flame. Sam had some excellent moments here — both promising Gilly that he wouldn't die and explaining the source of his courage (and how easily it can go away) — but Ygritte's death before she could decide whether to kill Jon Snow or spare him was less powerful than when they kissed atop the Wall or when she shot him up with arrows the last time. A major character death can be emotional, but it's not always the most powerful note a show can play, and the fragmented nature of the show's narrative sucked a lot of the power out of that relationship by the time she died (assuming you were invested in them as a couple in the first place).

I will not object too strenuously to the existence of an episode that gave me giants and mammoths trying to pull apart the gate that has protected Westeros from the wildlings for centuries. This was fun, and thrilling, and at times moving despite the relative lack of time and energy previously devoted to both sides of the battle. But ultimately, if the show was trying to recreate the achievement of "Blackwater" — less by spending so much time on a battle than by spending an entire episode in one place — I wish another spot on the map had been the recipient of that treatment.

As a reminder, we are here to discuss "Game of Thrones" AS A TV SHOW, NOT AS AN ENDLESS SERIES OF COMPARISONS TO THE BOOKS. Therefore, here's the only rule you should remember: if your comment contains the phrase "the books" without it being immediately preceded by "I haven't read" — whether it's revealing upcoming plot, a motivation that hasn't been entirely clarified in the show yet but was explained in detail by George R.R. Martin, discussing the differences between a scene in the books versus on the show, etc. — then you should probably delete what you've written and start over. Anything even vaguely questionable will not be approved.

Also, along similar lines, let me remind you of the other anti-spoiler rules for the blog: even if you haven't read the books, things that have yet to air are off-limits, whether that's previews for the next episode, interviews that actors or producers give, or even episode titles.

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Jesus H Christ, Sepinwall, want some cheese with your Whine? Wow, what a massive baby. Yes, the characters are not well defined here (those being 4 charaters out of a hundred in 39 hours of TV) but the stakes are huge. HUGE. If you can't get that through your skull, I'm not sure we've been watching the same show.

Agree with Alan 100%. Found it boring for most part. Great action. But I watch GOT for the character moments. None of my favorites were in this episode (Tyrion, Tywinn, Hound, etc.). Resolution to the episode also felt unsatisfying considering the wow factor and definitiveness of previous year's penultimate episodes.

When it comes down to it, the show has made it clear that what happens at the wall is likely THE most important part of the series, and to not create a huge spectacle for what has been promised to be a rather large battle would feel like kind of a rip-off. Not sure it would have played as well if they spread it out through the entire season. 2 minutes of battle here, 2 minutes there. I think it happened like Blackwater not because Blackwater was such a critical success, but because it called for it and they have the budget for these things now.

Alan Sepinwall is a huge drip. Sorry Alan, but this single episode was far more important to the series than Blackwater. The fact that you can't take your critic goggles off and get that is on you. I haven't read all the books, but the Wall being defeated is way more important than Stannis or the fate of a handful of Lannisters. Sometimes you need to review the bigger picture than just the episode.

But the Wall wasn't defeated in this episode. His point is that an hour of spectacle didn't move the plot along at all. At the beginning of the episode, the Wall awaited attack from an overwhelming force. At the end, the Wall awaited attack from an overwhelming force.

I loved the episode. It was good fun. But nothing of any significance to the Westeros overplot happened in it.

Edit above to make me agree with Rollie. Jack entered the queue with his answer before I did but I never saw his because it was waiting for the Mods OK. Alan is not a huge drip. In the future I will name the commenter with whom I agree.

I agree with the general sentiment. As Rollie mentioned, what happens at the wall is likely THE most important part of the series. I mean, the wildlings are kind of a huge deal, but there are ICE ZOMBIES too! Plus, this is pivotal. There is a HYUGE army waiting for them across the wall, and another smaller army coming at them from behind. And these ice zombies that will probably cross the wall given a chance.

My critique is not in comparison to Blackwater. I think a battle of this magnitude and importance deserves the focus. I just wish we had been given more time with Jon Snow and Ygritte. Or, maybe more importantly, that Jon had been portrayed with more charisma, leadership, conflicted nature as a bastard of Ned Stark who has a forbidden love with a wildling, and the other traits that make me like him in the books. In the series? He is the same guy, just not as interesting or, I suppose, empathetic.

No one's arguing what happens at the wall isn't important. It's just what happens down south (and elsewhere) is more interesting. I mean, 20 minutes on Sam's love life? It's enough to make me miss Joffrey.

Maybe it's because I expected this episode to be a standalone one like "Blackwater" but, I already knew there would be similarities. I for one thought it was one of the best episodes of GOT. They have been building up to this fight for years and we finally got to see Jon Snow and Sam REALLY show how much they have evolved from when we first met them. Ygriette was also such a well written character that I got a little misty eyed when she died. I REALLY love this show.

I agree, great to see Sam be funny and awesome, Jon and Ghost tearing stuff up. Jon Snow might just be a bland dude, who knows, but the whole Ygritte thing, I just don't buy her being the ONLY girl/woman in that pack of 'Wildlings' and creepy ass Thens and not getting roughed up a bit...

I don't think there's much to say here. It was a bad tactical choice to spend an entire episode (10% of an entire season) on a single battle that involved only 1 major character and ultimately had almost no impact on the overall plot of the show. Had they given us 2 minutes of a scene on the 2 sides readying for battle, and 2 more minutes after the battle showing John Snow leaving to find Mance, everything the episode accomplished other than Ygritte's death would have been accomplished, and we would have had 48 minutes to spend with Tyrion or Danni or Little Finger.

And as Alan notes, it was such a transparent attempt to recreate the magic of Blackwater that I have a hard time imagining every consistent viewer of the show didn't make the connection in real time.

Saying The Wall has "no impact on the plot" means that you're making the same mistakes as everyone in King's Landing. THE plot is the looming threat of the White Walkers, whose fates are tied to the Wildlings and the Night's Watch.

I just don't think there's a "transparent attempt to recreate the magic of Blackwater" when this battle is every bit as important to the fates of these characters.

Meanwhile, Tyrion, Danni, and Littlefinger all have their eye off the ball.

I couldn't agree with this comment more. As a television viewer only, it was a huge miscalculation to put so much importance (a whole episode) into something they haven't spent near enough time developing.

They were able to do it with Blackwater because we cared so much about Tyrion, Joffrey, Cersei, Bron, the Onion Knight, the Hound, etc...

But when it came to this episode we only cared about Jon, Sam and the 2-3 crows that we couldn't even remember the names of.

So it didn't carry any of the emotional weight that Blackwater had, or other episode 9's have, because we just didn't care enough based on the way the show has been presented.

So what you are saying is that because we had a battle scene in one episode then the show cannot do it again? I anticipate the show is building to a further series of giant battles at some point, so do you suggest just abbreviating all of them to an off-screen comment?

I'm not sure how you can say this has no impact on the plot either? Have you forgotten the army of the dead a bit further North? This episode destroyed the Watch and it's leaders and sent the only logical replacement into the North. Not to mention built up Sam's character to be more of a hero. Just based on the fact that the minor characters on this show rise to importance I expect Sam will play a major role in some upcoming conflict and this episode was the one which made strides to that end.

I have to agree with Adam E. I do feel like the writing staff on this show enjoys writing for the Kings Landing gang and it shows (and it's why Blackwater worked so well). The Night's Watch and Jon, by contrast, you can tell it's not one of their favorite things to write and since we've seen so little of these characters, it's hard to care as much. And yes, the battle is important, but without Blackwater's success and the show's continued success this episode would have never happened on the scale that it did. Maybe comparing this episode to Blackwater is not fair, but the show set itself up for that one.

I agree as well with Jim - this felt like a minor battle because it didn't resolve anything. Yes, the Wall is important, but this felt like a small step towards the resolution of the larger story of defending the wildling assault on the wall. It doesn't even address the white walker army, which I assume will be an entirely separate issue that the watch gets to deal with. Seemed like this could have been 1/2 or a 1/3 of an episode and it would have been an equally powerful story line.

I think Blackwater had larger stakes,but it looks like such a little battle when you watch it. It's like 40 guys in armor running around.

This felt like an epic battle about a rag-tag bunch taking on a foe thousands times their size and winning. I mean, if you didn't get chills when the 5 guys were facing down a Giant running at them by saying their oath you should probably stop watching TV or movies.

To those saying that the battle at Castle Black is directly related to the "looming threat of the White Walkers, whose fates are tied to the Wildlings and the Night's Watch," I guess I just don't see how. Correct me if I'm wrong (based on the tv show, which is all I know), but, so far, we have no reason to think that Mance and the Wildlings are in league with the white walkers, but rather opposed to them. Part of the reason the Wildlings are coming south is to flee the white walkers. And we also have no reason to assume that a wall can stop the white walkers and their massive army of the dead if so many wildlings were able to get over/around/through it. The approach of the white walkers is a massive aspect of the plot, but I fail to see how last night's episode really changes anything.

I knew going into it that it looked as if they were going to try to create another Blackwater so I was prepared for it and didn't mind that. You can put me in the crowd that thought they would end up being bored that the whole episode being at the Wall mostly because last week's ending was such a gut wrenching stomach punch that I'm eager to know how that situation resolves itself. I felt like waiting for that resolution another week was going to drive me crazy! I don't want to go to the Wall because I want to live more in the aftermath of that epic duel!

But I feel like Alan's right when he says that the spectacle of it all was engaging and incredible to behold; I ended up not minding that the characters weren't ones that I wasn't completely invested in. From the forest fire signal engulfing the horizon to the giants and their arrows to the mammoths and the flaming barrel bombs being dropped on them to the giant scythe ripping across the Wall it was a fun sight to behold and I never lost interest, even getting so caught up as to let out a few shouts when characters were wounded or died.

I did, however, think that the ending was a let down. I actually thought the Wildling army was going to get through in the end (kind of a "Remember the Alamo"). But after all that spectacle to have it end with the whole thing needing to turn on a Jon Snow cliffhanger makes the plot of the episode feel a bit hollow.

APK The wildings are a threat at the beginning of the episode and the same threat at the end. As Jon Snow points out this was a recon in force with the main battle for the wall yet to come. While I had fun watching the episode and loved Ygritte and Sam's moments, this was a housekeeping episode before the final episode and felt like a pause before the finale.

Needless comparison to the superior Blackwater episode is a "you" problem, and has no bearing at all on this episode's goodness or badness. Personally thought this episode was fantastic, and set the table nicely. Also, GIANTS!

Agree with this. Usually I find Alan's reviews right on, but here? Yes, Blackwater was a better episode. That's because Blackwater is my favorite hour of television ever. This episode was not as good, but the show is unlikely to ever produce something that brilliant again. Nonetheless it was a damn good hour of TV, maybe one of the show's top 5 or 6. And it made some previously uninteresting characters more interesting, with Sam and Jon getting some much needed character development. And I don't understand how it's a problem for the show to spend a lot of time on something it hasn't previously spent much time "developing." The conflict isn't over, so what we saw appears to be developing these things now, hopefully with payoff coming next week and next season. A valid question is, since the Wall setting has been so disconnected from the rest of the show anyway, why not do this episode earlier in the season, say swapped out with last week's trial by combat? That might have made for better narrative flow for the season, but doesn't really add or take anything away from this particular episode, which was pretty great.

First of all, the reason for the existence of this episode wasn't solely due to the success of "Blackwater," though you're right that it probably was a substantial one. Castle Black also gets a whole episode devoted to it because it was a pretty major part of the books. If it wasn't such an epic battle in the books, it probably wouldn't have gotten so much attention from the show.

Second, if we were talking exclusively about the first three seasons of the show, I'd agree with you in your assessment of the writing for Jon Snow and Kit Harrington's portrayal of him. But since this season began, I think the writers have made a clear effort to make Jon Snow more interesting. And as the character has gotten better writing, Harrington has shown that he's up to the challenge of making the character more engaging. He's still far from the most interesting character, but I'd at least say that he isn't the least interesting Stark anymore. Rickon's aside, Bran probably holds that honor now (though in that case, the fault is almost solely on the writers and not Hempstead-Wright).

Bran Stark's ability to see the future and control human minds probably makes him the most magically powerful human in Westeros. So I don't find him boring. It's more that the show rarely gives him any screen time.

Wow. Color me surprised. I completely disagree. I thought the episode was outstanding - even better than Blackwater. I think Marshall, Benioff, and Weiss learned from any misfires and they nailed this episode despite having characters who are generally less compelling.

The mammoths and giants were super cool. The fighting was intense. Ygritte's death was spot on - the line, "we should have stayed in that cave" hit the perfect emotion. I like Jon a bit more than Alan...I agree, he's no Tyrion, but he is growing into something special. And, the Sam stuff was great.

I can see re-watching this one more times than Blackwater, no problem. RIP Grenn and Pyp. We hardly knew ye.

I kindly disagree. I actually thought it was superior to "Blackwater." It was shot better (that single "around the horn shot inside the castle stands out); it matched its supposed scope better (for all its greatness, "Blackwater" often looks like a hundred guys on a beach); and it was more raw and visceral and interesting in its warfare (and I don't mean gore, I mean on the impact of the action).

For me, it was also more emotionally compelling and hit a broad range of notes, from the massive "eff yeah!" moment of unleashing Ghost on the Wildlings to the touchingly tragic way that Jon froze Ygritte's rampage with a heartfelt smile. I love this episode.

Respectfully, I also think that you've underestimated this battle's importance to the narrative. Though the Blackwater's importance is indisputable and your points on that are well taken, the Battle at the Wall is a major turning point for Jon-- tonight he assumed command and the men rallied around him-- and I think that Harrington was great.

"That said, Benioff, Weiss, Marshall and the entire production team seem to have recognized that they were working with less important raw material, and that they needed to compensate with something else: spectacle. We've seen the show's technical capabilities expand rapidly with each passing season, and if this battle didn't have Tyrion or Tywin or the Hound hanging around, it had giants and wooly mammoths and action centered around a 700-foot high ice wall: a physical scope to match the sort of magic that Marshall and the visual effects people can whip up at this point in the series' lifespan."

Thought this was a fair comment to make about the episode and pretty much summed it up nicely. We all knew the stakes, the importance of the battle and the spectacle was amazing! We just didn't quite get the payoff at the end that we were maybe all looking for from Game of Thrones as a TV show. Instead we got a cliffhanger.

I feel really stupid. What is the "around the horn shot" that you all are mentioning? I watched the episode twice and perhaps I'm just not understanding the terminology? (Please don't hurt me.) I really liked this episode but then again, I love them all for one reason or another.

LELISA13P-- you're not stupid. Right after Jon jumps into the fray down below, the camera draws back and does one continuous 360 degree take around the courtyard, tracking from (I think) Jon, to Styr, to Ygritte, to Tormund, to Sam, and shows the whole scope of the battle while orienting you to where everyone is in the fracas. It's brilliant filmmaking.

I disagree with the tone of the review. I thought this compared favorably to "Blackwater" which, make no mistake, is still a tremendous episode, but which felt more disjointed and less cohesive than "Watchers on the Wall." This episode had a strong unity of purpose and of story that still managed to add shading to characters like Sir Allister whom had been fairly one-note in the build up. There were big thrills like the march of the giants on the wall and the impressive tracking shot, but also quiet moments like Sam's reflection with Maester Amon and Allister's monologue.

Suspense, action, romance, heartbreak, surprises, and compelling moments. This, my friends, was a high water mark, black or not.

Will probably hold up better over time, but after such a suspenseful end to last week's episode this is just maddening. I think the scenes on the wall are the most tedious of the series. The last thing we needed was an entire episode.

GoT has done itself a disservice by making this the penultimate episode of this season.

Based on every other season thus far, from purely TV perspective, episode 9 of the season was the MUST WATCH episode. This episode was good, but it wasn't MUST WATCH like ep. 9 was of the previous 3 seasons.

I think the miscalculation came from the belief that Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly's survival (aka them not getting killed when we expected one of them to bite the dust based on previous episodes) would bolster our spirits after a true favorite like prince Oberyn dies.

The problem arises from the fact that they never made us care about either of these two (Jon and Samwell) as much as we did about Oberyn or Ned (who each only had a single season).

To sum it up. I still love the show, I just think this is the first big misfire for the show runners. They (or Martin if this is how he wrote it) haven't made us care enough about the Wall as much they want us to at this point in the series to warrant an entire episode on the level of the previous episodes 9's.

How did you care more about Oberyn more than Jon Snow or Sanwell Tarley? Oberyn was portrayed as nothing more than an arrogant pervert hellbent on revenge no matter how badly the outcome would be for the Dornish if he did incriminate Tywin Lannister.

I had no attachment at all to Prince Oberyn, especially when they felt compelled to make him a gay swinger for some unknown reason.

Great comment Mike D. Perhaps Adam is a book reader and the books did a better job of introducing and building up Oberyn?? I mean I liked the guy just fine, but his death meant nothing to me other than that Tyrion lost his Trial by Combat. Sure, Oberyn was a cool character and I would have liked for him to last a bit longer. But when he died, other than Tyrion now on death row? Meh.

Not to mention Oberyn was avenging a dead woman and children we have never known, and their deaths feel like forever ago, from another story. With all the people who have died brutal deaths do we as the audience have an emotional attachment to Elia Targaryen? I feel worse for Molestown and the little village raided by the Wildlings. We have no real investment in Oberyn's quest to exact revenge at all so his death was quite meaningless for me.

In Mike D's world bisexual people are "gay swingers" and rape and child murder are not worthy of vengeance. Also Yes, I love the coward Sam (who tells a 10 year old kid to fight, while he runs and does NOTHING). Or John Wood, I mean Snow.

I disagree, I think this episode was superior to Blackwater. The only thing I didn't like was a lack of resolution at the end. From the previews it looks like they are saving that for the finale which I think is an odd choice

Disagree with Alan here. Sure, Blackwater had an explosion of awesome visual and sound effects fury but the land battle was never convincing as a large scale conflict. It looked like 20 extras fighting in front of a 30 foot single piece of wall.

This episode fixed that because the castle battle was one of the best small screen action scenes I can remember. It was packed with combat choreography in every corner and the Wall side was on a scale Blackwater failed to realize beyond having an impressive flotilla of burning ships. I can't believe Alan failed to acknowledge the superb panning shot around the courtyard either.

While Jon Snow may be a stoic hero, I enjoy his character. It offsets the rest of the loud, brash or just plain treacherous characters on the show. Sam and Gilly make for a far more entertaining and hopeful pair than the usual depressing array that populates this world too and that's a rare thing. This episode in particular was full of great moments for the Sam character.

As for Ygritte. I never cared for the character or the performance, so no loss there.

I was waiting for someone to say this. Blackwater had it's moments but the beach battle was so much like a stage production I kept being pulled out of the story. It was the first time for me that thrones felt. less like a movie, more TV on a budget.

Being more interesting than Rob is a VERY low bar. He may be a great character in the books (for all I know) but it did not translate to the show. He's not Stannis or Bran level annoying and dull, but he was pretty high up on the simply dull list.

That said, this was the first episode where Jon won me over 100%. I started the episode thinking oh jesus not that again and ended by rooting for him. I actually said out loud to the tv: okay Jon Snow, that was pretty great. Which I suspect is important based on my projections of the plot and who's going to die etc. (which are entirely guesses).

I like Alan and he's very talented but he rarely changes his opinion about a character. His good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.

Alan doesn't hate Snow, he finds the actor playing him to be a bore. I agree. I've only read the first book, but Snow was my favorite character. Then I watched the show and was very disappointed. Harrington has one facial expression. The only time I did care about Snow as portrayed by Harrington was when he was teamed up with the lovely, ass-kicking Rose Leslie as Ygritte. But that romance ended over a year ago. We've barely seen Ygritte this season. Her death, while tragic, had less emotional impact than it could have -- should have -- given better storytelling by B&W.

Those who insist on how important the wall is are making sense. But I suspect they are mostly book (I haven't read beyond book 1) readers who were reminded again and again why the wall is important. The TV show has not done that. We've barely been up there. And the motivations of The Wildlings have been neglected as well. Based on what I've read here and elsewhere, they are fleeing the White Walkers and have nowhere else to go. Makes sense. But has there been even one scene of Mance Rayder and his men fleeing White Walkers this season? No. Their should have been several. We shouldn't need reminders from those familiar with the source material. It's the show's job to do that.

its funny how often reviewers are clamoring for more time in one place oftentimes as with blackwater or joffrey's wedding and yet this one has left some wanting.

i was happy that the night's watch finally had there moment in the sun so to speak after the interminable build up. and i've always liked jon snow certainly more than robb stark. and i was genuinely upset that ygritte and jon's arc ended so abruptly. one more reminder that there are no happy endings in westeros.

Totally disagree on the Jon Snow character being dull or a "drip." I haven't read the books, but I have a feeling Alan is going to be very disappointed because Jon Snow/Kit Harrington isn't going anywhere. In fact I could somehow see him ending up on the Iron Throne when this is all said and done.

I wonder if there is a gender divide. I was bored beyond belief by this. I don't go to action movies, either. Sure I want to know e outcome but must I sit through 55 minutes of darkness and people getting stabbed to find out. If I wanted to watch gore I'd watch the walking dead. Precious little dialogue, and unlike last weeks duel, hardly any of the fights had emotional investment for me. What a let down.

Gwen, I think you may be right. I'll happily sit through the boobs and gore as long as they give me some snappy dialogue and realistic characters and great acting. And OK, let's face it, this was 45 minutes of sausage fest; I really missed Arya and Brienne and even Cersei.

Maybe it's not gender per se as "chick flick" vs "action movie," and obviously there are men who love sensitive dramas and women who love action films. But I just really DON'T love action films. I don't watch The Walking Dead. Have never watched Die Hard. It's not that I object; I just am bored. And this to me was boring, even the supposedly uplifting bit where they were chanting their vows. I just was like, really? What a cliche. The only time I like a battle is when it's really emotionally invested-- when Gandalf appeared in The Two Towers with the cavalry over the hill just when all was lost I was thrilled! And then I got bored again. I found this dark, drab, and uninteresting.

Mr. Sepinwall while I enjoy your reviews and usually agree with you on this episode you are very wrong.

Jon Snow is one of the few characters that people can relate too. I know I can. How many people are often treated as outsiders but still give all they have for their family, friends, co-workers, etc? It is something I believe a lot of people go through.

Besides that he is a real hero in a story that does not have any (left at least lol). I enjoy seeing him overcome obstacles. Also I like that he has that Stark blood in him.

Finally Besides Dany and her dragons, what happens at the wall is the biggest threat to the 7 kingdoms. It was very important to have one single episode focused on this location.

Regarding characters of import, whilst obviously not near the level of Jon and Sam, I think that Maester Aemon and Gilly are people the audience is decently familiar with. But that only goes so far, since they aren't actually involved in the fighting at all, and thus are absent from most of the episode.

Yeah. I was skeptical when it seemed like this would be blackwater 2, essentially, and it definitely was (except with less impact because of the reasons stated) - but because I went in thinking I wouldn't like this episode at all, I actually thought they did an admirable job of upping the spectacles to make it a big battle episode - even though I still think it was a wrong choice to have the entire episode centered around it.

So it wasn't a terrible episode, and it was fun to watch, but it was definitely a weak episode of the season because of this decision, which is somewhat unfortunate.

Look, I can appreciate the spirit of Alan's criticisms of this episode, but I still have to disagree with them, and quite strongly at that. And I do have to admit that find it funny that Alan's single most persistent request when it comes to Game of Thrones (at least after his demand that the show do away with Ramsay Bolton and his plot) is for the show do do more episodes that are concentrated on smaller number of locations. So it's kind of amusing that when we actually get one, it gets dinged because it doesn't include our favorites from King's Landing.

Please note that I'm no way saying that I think Alan is being in any way disingenuous with his take on the episode. Look, as an extremely devoted fan of both the show and the source material, I understand that King's Landing is the most interesting location on the show with the highest concentration of characters that we care about. But while Jon Snow may not be as dynamic of a character as Tyrion Lannister, but I still find him to compelling and worthy of the time that we've invested in him. I certainly think that calling him dull and a drip is selling him (and Kit Harrington) EXTREMELY short. Then again, I liked Robb Stark as well and Alan thought that he was dull, drippy as well, so clearly the Stark lads are not to his taste. Agree to disagree, I guess.

I also take issue with the idea that this episode was a blatant attempt on the part of Benioff and Weiss to recapture the magic of Blackwater. From a story telling perspective, devoting an entire episode to the Battle of the Wall was absolutely warranted. We've been hearing about the wildling army marching on the Wall for almost two seasons. Frankly, if we hadn't gotten a massive battle to validate why the Wildling army was such a major threat, it would have felt like a cheat. And from a technical perspective, I thought that this episode surpassed Blackwater. Tonight's battle looked better than the battles featured in movies with $200 million budgets. It made Peter Jackson's CGI-heavy Hobbit films look like cartoons.

Finally, Ygritte's death lost none of its emotional impact for me even with her relative lack of screentime this season. I remember her and Jon's scenes from last year clearly enough that her dying recollection of the first time that they consummated their love hit me like a punch in the gut. Rose Leslie was fantastic in this role, and I'm very sad that she's gone from the show.

Long story short, I loved this episode. I'm genuinely sorry that Alan and some others didn't.

Same here, devoted follower of both, and absolutely loved this episode. I shed a tear when Ygritte died! This was the epic battle I'd been waiting for ever since Blackwater disappointed me on a rather spectacular level. Thanks for saying what I was thinking!

I just wanted to add my "like" to Jared K's comment, but for some reason it wouldn't register. I loved the episode, and I thought it looked fantastic. I have not read the books, but I am loving the series. And I certainly--as a woman--disagree with Gwen Orel's comment about a gender divide. I was totally invested in this episode even if I didn't know the names of all the characters.

I don't think that's Alan's fault though. The show has not given the Night's Watch it's due in screentime. How can Mance Ryder be perceived as a threat when he's barely been on the screen? The two wildings of note are Ygritte and Tormund with very little screentime but more than Mance. How can people care about the Night's Watch in general when Jon and Sam have most of the screentime and the screentime they both have is very little? I could not pick Pyp, Grenn, Allister Thorne or Janos Slynt out of a line up.
So if Alan and others are like, I'm not feeling it, it's not that they don't get it, it's the show is not communicating it well.

If the wall is important, the writers haven't conveyed this. There's 100,000 wildlings wanting to rape and pillage, but the North is already war ravaged and few main characters are up there, so who would even notice? There's a zombie horde who get used as a cheap shock device once a season but seem to have no real plans. We like Sam and Gilly and Jon and Bran but if they have any connection to matters of the realm, it hasn't been made clear.

Agreed with the two above, they did not build up to this episode and its storyline the way they should have. The wildlings want to get over the wall, not to rape and pillage but to find safety against the whilewalkers. We should have spent much more time with them and Mance, along with the night's watch. It would have made it much more poignant for the viewers to understand both sides and it would have probably made them actually care and be emotionally invested in the outcome.